SPEECH ACTS IN EFL CLASSROOM INTERACTION

(Thesis)Author: Edgar Lucero Babativa

Advisor: Dr. Harold Castañeda-Peña

Master’s Program on Applied Linguistics to TEFLUniversidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas

Statement of the problem

01 Teacher: How often do you go to the church?02 Elsy: Church? I don’t go to the church… because I

don’t believe in… in… [[she makes some gestures]]

03 Teacher: Images?04 Elsy: No… in curas!05 Teacher: Priests!06 Elsy: But sometimes I go to the church but eh… sin

la misa. I like to go to pray.07 Teacher: Yes. That’s exactly what happens to me. I

don’t go to the mass, la misa, because it sounds very repetitive to me.

4. Self-select

2. Request

5. Recognize

3. Request

1. Conversation development

Man

ag

ing

Initiating

closing

Research Questions

What types of speech acts emerge and are maintained in interactions between the teacher and the students in class?

How do these types of speech acts potentially influence on both interactants’ interactional behavior in class?

Research ObjectivesTo identify the types of speech acts that emerge

and are maintained in classroom interaction between the teacher and the students in an EFL Pre-intermediate class.

To describe when and how those types of speech acts are constructed and developed between the teacher and the students in order to negotiate meaning in classroom interaction.

To identify the potential influence that those types of speech acts (regarding the way they are constructed and developed) have on both the teacher’s and the student’s interactional behavior in classroom interaction.

Theoretical ConstructsSpeech acts: Functions, intentions and effects of

utterances.Context and interactants. (Searle, 1969, 1979)

Regulatory speech act. (Wunderlich, 1980)

Classroom interaction: Interactional relationship among utterances for communication of

meaning.Language (code, system, resource)(Kurhila, 2006) (meaning, intentions, behavior)(Gibbons, 2006)

From Content (language, meaning, activity)From Participants (teacher, students)Context (conversational environment and its

features) (Cameron, 2001), (Seedhouse, 2004a)

Methodological FrameworkType of study:Ethnomethodological Conversation Analysis (Seedhouse, 2004)

Language as a set of resources to perform social acts and not linguistic interests in interaction from an emic perspective.

It is composed of five sequential stages:1. Unmotivated Looking Discovering new phenomena in

interaction.

2. Inductive Search Establishing a collection of instances of the phenomenon.

3. Establish Regularities and Patterns Occurrences of the phenomenon and how they are methodically produced by the participants.

4. Detailed Analysis of the Phenomenon Explicating the rational organization of the phenomenon and its normativity.

5. Generalized Account of the Phenomenon. Finding how the phenomenon relates to the broader matrix of the interaction.

Participant Selection: Pre-Intermediate class. (Different

majors)Universidad Central.

Instruments: Video Recordings, transcripts.

Researcher ‘s role: Non-participant.

Data Analysis and FindingsAsking about Content

Students ask the Teacher for Grammatical Structures Students ask the Teacher for Correct Pronunciation Students ask the Teacher for Unknown Lexical Items

Adding ContentAdding Content (Individual Contribution)Adding Content (Multiple Contributions)

Regulatory Speech Act in the Interactional Patterns Teacher’s Regulatory Speech Acts in both Interactional Patterns

Asking about ContentExcerpt 1.3. Teacher how you say…[[The teacher is assessing the students’ pronunciation from the

reading of the text]]01 S1: MTV was [launched] on august one nineteen ninety one

eh…a [video] called [triler] the radio star shown first MTV was not very [popular] in the [beginin]

02 T: STOP. Called, beginning. Called and beginning. Don’t make the mistakes. Ooohhh…

03 S2: Teacher, how you say [[student points out in her notebook]] [a] [e]?

04 T: Which one? [[the teacher looks where the student is pointing]] A video [e] video. OK Maria (8 sec.) no problem. In some parts of the United States people say [ei] in others they say [a] a video. George begin.

05 S2: =ahh [[the student nods]][[The teacher continues assessing the students’ pronunciation

from the reading of the text]]

123

Asking about ContentSpeech acts in the pattern

The students are doing the exercise or the teacher is correcting the exercise.

(In progress)

1. A student asks the teacher for explanation.

Speech Acts: Chipping-in + Eliciting

2. The teacher provides the student with the explanation.Speech Acts: Answer initiating + Explaining/Clarifying + Closing

3. The students acknowledges the explanationSpeech Acts: Acknowledgement

(In progress)

Asking about ContentPotential Influence of the speech actsWhat content the student needs to ask the

teacher about when the student takes up the turn.

The level of difficulty the student can experience to construct the question.

What content the teacher uses to answer it. Closing.03 S2: Teacher, how you say [[student points out in her notebook]] [a]

[e]?04 T: Which one? [[the teacher looks where the student is pointing]] A video [e] video. OK Maria (8 sec.) no problem. In some parts of the United States people say [ei] in others they say [a] a video. George begin.05 S2: =ahh [[the student nods]]

Adding Content

Excerpt 2.1. Colombia has no winter.[[The teacher is explaining the item in the activity]]01 T: ok for example in January we have winter

time.02 S1: because in Colombia we no have winter station.03 T: ok yeah in Colombia we don’t have winter,

yes it’s true, so here we have summer all:: year long. Ok so let’s listen to the same part [[the teacher plays the part of the video on again]] so please listen, listen.

[[The teacher goes on with the activity]]

123

Adding ContentSpeech acts in the patternAn item takes part in the activity. The teacher

explains or clarifies the item.Speech Acts: Explaining/Clarifying

1. The teacher opens room for the students’ contributions.

Speech Acts: Eliciting/Nominating

2. A student adds content to the item.

Speech Acts: Contributing

3. The teacher evaluates or accepts the student’s contribution.Speech Acts: Evaluating/Accepting

Adding ContentPotential Influence of the speech actsThe teacher is the participant who provides

the language context and then asks for the students adds.

The students contribute with their opinions, experiences, or viewpoints about the item.

The teacher evaluates or accepts the contribution.

01 T: ok for example in January we have winter time.02 S1: because in Colombia we no have winter station.03 T: ok yeah in Colombia we don’t have winter, yes it’s true, so here we have summer all:: year long. Ok so let’s listen to the same part [[the teacher plays the part of the video on again]] so please listen, listen.

Regulatory speech act in the patternsThe student does not add a detailed amount of

content to the item in reference in a speak-out exercise.

The student does not use the target language for his/her contribution in a speak-out exercise or for his/her question in a linguistic exercise. Excerpt 3.4. Hago que no me doy cuenta.

[[The teacher is accepting a student’s contribution to the item in the activity]]

01 T: ok who doesn’t say anything and pay forty thousand pesos? who doesn’t say anything and pay forty thousand pesos? [[T raises the hand]] (4 sec.) [[Student1 raises her hand]] aha Sarah [[some SS laugh]] 02 S1: pero depende el servicio03 T: aha how do you say that in English?04 S1: depends the service05 T: Ok. But Sarah, you pay forty thousand?06 S1: [[S2 nods]] 07 T: Yes? Ok.

Regulatory Speech Act

ConclusionsPedagogical Implications

Discursive aspects, type of exercise, context, utterances make the participants decide on their actions.

These patterns are to help interpret classroom interaction from the participants’ actions.

These patterns show how the interactions move from language input to conversational management.

All the speech acts work at the textual and functional level. (Coherence with the topic, effect).

The regulatory speech act is the one that mostly influences on the students’ interactional behavior.

Once a particular interactional pattern with its speech acts emerges, the teacher and the students then try to maintain it.

Each participant reinforces their role in each pattern.

Main References Cameron, D. (2001) Sequence and structure: Conversation Analysis. Working with Spoken Discourse, London: Sage, 87-

105. Cazden, C. B. (1988). Classroom discourse: The language of teaching and learning. Portsmouth, New Hampshire:

Heinemann Educational Books, Inc. Celce-Murcia, M. and Olshtain, E. (2000). Discourse and Context in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press. Ellis, R. (1994). The Study of Second Language Acquisition. New York: Oxford University Press. Garton, Sue (2002) Learner initiative in the language classroom. ELT Journal, 56 (1). pp. 47-56. ISSN 0951-0893 Gibbons, P. (2006). Bridging Discourses in the ESL Classroom. New York: Continuun. Iglesias, A. E. (2001). Native speaker-non-native speaker interaction: The use of discourse markers. ELIA 2, 129-142.

Retrieved May 16, 2010, from ProQuest Education Journals. Ilatov, Z. Z., Shamai, S., Hertz-Lazarovitz, R., & Mayer-Young, S. (1998). Teacher-student classroom interactions: The

influence of gender, academic dominance, and teacher communication style. Adolescence, 33(130), 269-277.  Retrieved June 3, 2010, from ProQuest Medical Library. (Document ID: 32612446).

Johnson, K. (1995). Understanding Communication in Second Language Classrooms. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Kurhila, S. (2006). Second Language Interaction. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Long, M.H. (1996). The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition. In W. R. Ritchie & T. K. Bhatia

(Eds), Handbook of second language acquisition, pp. 413–468. San Diego: Academic Press. Markee, N. (2000). Conversation Analysis. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. McCarthy, M. (1991). Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Searle, J.R. (1969). Speech Acts. New York: Cambridge University Press. Searle, J.R. (1979). Expression and Meaning. New York: Cambridge University Press. Seedhouse, P. (2004). Conversation Analysis as Research Methodology. In J. Richards and P. Seedhouse (eds.), Applied

Conversation Analysis, Palgrave McMillan. Seedhouse, P. (2004a). The interactional Architecture of the Language Classroom: A Conversation Analysis Perspective.

Madison, USA: Language Learning Monograph Series. Sinclair, J. & Coulthard, R.M. (1975). Towards an Analysis of Discourse: The English Used by Teachers and Pupils. Oxford:

Oxford University Press. Van Lier, L. (1988). The Classroom and the Language Learner. New York: Longman. Wunderlich, D. (1980). Methodological remarks in Speech Act Theory. In John Searle, F. Kiefer, & M. Bierwish (Eds.).

Speech Act Theory and Pragmatics. Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Company.